A resourceful designer invests time and tender loving care in an unlikely hodgepodge of neglected antiques, imaginatively repurposing the lot to furnish her rural Virginia cottage in high style.

Ann Nicholson and Rebecca Thienes

Ann Nicholson and Rebecca Thienes

It seems an impossible task: finding potential in a heap of derelict vintage furnishings, many of them on their last legs--literally. But with imagination and a can-do attitude, anything is possible. Just ask designer Ann Nicholson (left, with Rebecca Thienes, of Country Living), who boldly purchased this haul at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds Flea Market, in Raleigh (Check out their trip here). Repairing, refinishing, and reupholstering where necessary, she turned these overlooked treasures into elegant signature pieces. Read on to find out how she did it.

Sister's Cottage

Sister's Cottage

Pygmalion was the story of a threadbare beauty discovered in the gutter, subjected to an extreme makeover, then passed off as a duchess. The lovely furnishings on these pages have a similar story to tell. All were rescued from the North Carolina State Fairgrounds Flea Market by designer Ann Nicholson, whose local home-design firm is called, fittingly, Brocante (that's French for "junk"). Like a latter-day Henry Higgins, Ann scooped up a junk pile of neglected treasures--"I rescued them," she explains--and gave them a dramatically new look. With a little "over-the-top gilding" here and a little reupholstery there, she lovingly turned these items into elements of her signature "Flea Market Baroque" style. Then she moved them into a splendid new showcase: a guest cottage on her farmstead outside Charlottesville, Va., also home to another cottage, and a brick house. Thanks to these made-over treasures, "Sister's Cottage"--as Ann likes to call it, in honor of sibling Beth--is now as lovely and inviting as its neighbors on the property.